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Regular Session, 2013 ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 112
BY SENATOR BROOME
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To recognize and commend Dr. Rama Mohanty on a lifetime of achievements and for his
commitment to promoting world peace.
WHEREAS, as a young boy in India, Rama Mohanty obtained funding to attend high
school by winning a debate on the topic of freedom and then, with the assistance of a
scholarship, was able to go to college at Utkal University in Odisha, while tutoring high
school students to pay for room and board, ending up the top graduate in his class; and
WHEREAS, he received a scholarship for his academic excellence and obtained a
masters degree at Ranchi College finishing at the top of his class and was awarded a
scholarship to attend Penn State University in physics where three years later, he obtained
a PhD, the youngest student in his class; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Rama Mohanty was recruited by Benjamin Mayo of Morehouse
College in Atlanta to serve as professor and chair of the Physics Department there; and
WHEREAS, while at Morehouse, Dr. Mohanty became acquainted with Dr. Martin
Luther King and learned that they both followed the teachings of Mahatma Ghandi; and
WHEREAS, he later served at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1960s,
then as Chairman of Physics at New York State University; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Mohanty moved to Louisiana in 1976 and has served as a professor
in the Department of Physics at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge and
a physics instructor at Louisiana State University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, until
his retirement in 2010; and
WHEREAS, he is the head of the Louisiana University of Medical Sciences
organized to eliminate the current shortage of primary care medicine providers in certain
areas of the state by proposing an LCME accredited school of medicine to train qualified
students who demonstrate dedicated interest in practicing primary care medicine in an area
of need; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Mohanty established the Institute of All Nations for Advanced SCR NO. 112 ENROLLED
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Studies, Inc., in 1964 which began under the co-chairmanship of former United States
Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and former United Nations Ambassador Arthur S.
Lall and in which he serves as General Secretary; and
WHEREAS, he was moved to form the institute by the brutal murder of thousands
of innocent people, including children and women, as a result of religious and communal
rioting in his native India, which he witnessed as a high school student and which convinced
him that the promotion of inner peace within each individual is vital to the establishment of
meaningful world peace; and
WHEREAS, in 1998, the institute adopted a resolution designating October 1
annually as World Peace Day; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Mohanty is the founder and member of the Louisiana World Peace
Day Committee which has sponsored World Peace Day activities since 1998, the purpose
of which, as stated by Dr. Mohanty is "to create in the minds of people in Louisiana, and
around the world, love and respect for one another"; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Rama Mohanty is a very unique individual, a man of genuine
intellect and high integrity with a genuine compassion for humankind and an unrelenting
drive for the cause of world peace; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Rama Mohanty, for his efforts, was nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
recognize and commend Dr. Rama Mohanty for his lifetime achievements and his
commitment to promoting world peace for the betterment of humankind.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that best wishes are hereby extended for a full
recovery and a long life.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Dr.
Rama Mohanty.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES